When wealthy Russian investors contract L.A. psychologist Joel Fischer to develop a device to manipulate minds, the Dreemweever exceeds all expectations. Everything is on track for delivery and a big payday, until two adventurous stoners steal his Dodge Challenger that, unknown to them, contains the Dreemweever in its trunk. Fischer and his crew have two days to get it back or he dies.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

EVERY DEAD THING: John Connolly

The next stop on my journey of crime writers has lead me to John Connolly. Yes, I am late to the game, but for me it is all about the thrill of discovery that keeps me wanting more. EDT is about 400 pages, which in itself, is about 100 pages more than most of the stuff I have read over the last 9 months. For me, this is an instant red flag that I might be skipping some passages, but in this case it did not apply. Although, I could have done without so many "like" and "as if" comparisons, but that is just me.

This is a very good story. Most impressive to me, is that it was JC's debut novel and the history of how EDT eventually went on to be published.

EDT has one of the best openings I have read in a long time. I hate spoilers, so I will only reveal that EDT follows ex-cop Charlie "Bird" Parker as he avenges the death of some loved ones. It takes place in New York and Louisiana. JC is a stickler for facts and details and I learned a lot about numerous subjects during the story.

Two minor details I noticed, and I'm thinking this might be old news but..

-In one scene, Parker refers to sneakers as "trainers" and vacation as "holiday". Parker is from the U.S. and I don't think he would have used these terms.

JC has gone on to be famous, but my sense is that he is still a pretty Regular Joe.

Anyway, I highly recommend EVERY DEAD THING and will certainly be reading more of John Connolly's work.